Roadmap

INTRODUCTION

Arts and Culture is a vital part of the Summit County community. Nonprofits bring Arts and Culture into our lives through performances, education, exhibits, and other experiences. Food festivals, art fairs, theater, film, and concerts fill our calendars. Resident musicians, painters, writers, photographers, and chefs make it their life’s work to share their talents. Our schools have strong arts programming. People may come to our town for recreation and nature, but they stay and are fulfilled by our creative offerings and spirit.

Our Arts and Culture sector provides numerous opportunities that connect our community, offer inspiration and hope, and create a forum to express ideas and viewpoints. They are a vital part of our economy and local identity.

In the past two decades, Summit County government, nonprofits, and individuals have made significant investments in recreation and open space that have critically improved our quality of life. We have not made similar investments in Arts and Culture. Prior to Project ABC, no countywide master plan existed for the creative sector, and no formal assessment or planning effort for Arts and Culture had been done since 1999.

Project ABC arose from the advocacy of local nonprofit leaders for additional support and investment in Arts and Culture activity and their desire to engage the community in creating a plan for the future.

This cultural plan provides direction for future investment in Arts and Culture in Summit County. By design, it colors in the background, sketches out the main roads, and identifies where bridges can be built to make it easier to get where we want to go moving forward.

Our definition of Arts and Culture is intentionally inclusive and ranges from public art to the county fair; film, music, performance, and visual-arts activities to local creative businesses; and from arts education to ways the arts are part of a powerful community development strategy.

The following sections serve as an overview of the Project ABC Cultural Plan. For a printable version of the plan with additional information download the full plan by clicking the button below.

COLLECTIVE PRIORITIES

Together, these Priorities fulfill the collective vision for Arts and Culture in Summit County.

The Project ABC Cultural Plan has been built by and for the creative community and represents the ideas and opinions of key stakeholders countywide. Reflecting the nature of the collaboratively designed process, the plan does not have a single owner or implementer. Rather it is designed to guide future strategic decision-making among the many artists, nonprofit organizations, businesses, citizens, and government entities that call Summit County home. The following two sections outline the Collective Priorities and Strategic Recommendations that have emerged from one year of data collection, community convenings, and stakeholder engagement.

COLLECTIVE PRIORITIES: The seven Collective Priorities outlined below are just that: key points of interest or “buckets of need” that were expressed by the larger community. They are not areas of concern for specific individuals or organizations, but are cross-cutting themes expressed across our data. The Priorities are not listed in any order of importance and do not have hierarchy. The level of importance of each will vary from stakeholder to stakeholder. They will be pushed forward in the order that makes sense for each constituent based on their unique position, vision, and strategic goals. The implementation phase will include monitoring movement on each priority to ensure progress on all.

Spaces

DEVELOP, SUPPORT, AND PROTECT FACILITIES AND VENUES FOR THE CREATION, CULTIVATION, AND EXHIBITION OF ARTS AND CULTURE COUNTYWIDE.

A great Arts and Culture community requires great spaces for Arts and Culture. These spaces range from large outdoor performance venues that seat several thousand to intimate black box theatres and listening rooms. They also include spaces for artists to live, work, and exhibit. The Summit County community has expressed a strong desire for spaces that cultivate and support Arts and Culture countywide. These spaces need to be accessible, flexible, and protected. In some instances, new facilities will need to be constructed, but adapting or the use of existing facilities is also a solution to cultivate more spaces for Arts and Culture.

Funding

Develop diverse and sustainable funding mechanisms to ensure long-term success and vibrancy for Arts and Culture in Summit County.

In order for Summit County’s Arts and Culture community to thrive, significant, sustainable, responsive, and reliable funding is required. In Summit County, there are currently several public-funding mechanisms for Arts and Culture including: Restaurant Tax Grants; Recreation, Arts, and Parks Grants; Special Events Grants; Special Services Contracts; Percent for Public Art; and Fee Waivers. While these funding mechanisms provide basic support for Arts and Culture, they are very restrictive and leave significant gaps in need among Arts and Culture nonprofits, artists, and the creative sector as a whole. Substantial and strategic increases in funding are needed to ensure long-term viability of Summit County’s Arts and Culture sector. These funding increases may include new sources of public funding, but will also include the development of new private sources of support. An analysis of current Arts and Culture funding in Summit County can be found in the State of the Arts section of this plan.

Programming

Build creative programs that respond to our diverse community needs, interests, and dreams.

In many ways, programming is the most visible and identifiable of the Collective Priorities. Programming is the part of Arts and Culture that we see, attend, and participate in. As Arts and Culture grows in Summit County, it is imperative that the programming align with, reflect, and forward the needs, interests, and dreams of our community. Arts and Culture must tell the story of who we are, connect us across boundaries, teach us empathy, remind us of our values, and provide us with fun creative experiences. Arts and Culture can, and should, be seen as a platform to progress other community priorities and improve our overall quality of life.

Data

Develop systems and tools that use data to drive decision-making and track the future of Arts and Culture in Summit County.

As Arts and Culture becomes increasingly important in Summit County, better data are needed to quantify impact, track results, and inform decision making. In order to truly understand the scope and scale of Arts and Culture in Summit County, and to move forward as a premier Arts and Culture community, significant improvements are needed in the way we collect and use data. Enhanced data collection will enable more defendable economic-impact analysis, help Arts and Culture organizations track progress, provide better connections throughout the creative community, and will, ultimately, help Arts and Culture flourish.

Governance and Policy

Support the development and connection of places for Arts and Culture across Summit County geographies.

Create administrative structures, systems, and policies to support the sustained vitality and growth of Arts and Culture in Summit County.

One of the most substantial gaps in Summit County’s Arts and Culture sector is the absence of a strong governing organization or well-established Arts and Culture departments within local government. The need to develop a system of governance and supportive local policy is an urgent matter that requires immediate concentrated action. Without a strong system of governance and complementary policies, it will prove difficult for the other Collective Priorities in this plan to be moved forward successfully.

Places

Support the development and connection of places for Arts and Culture across Summit County geographies.

Arts and Culture is not limited to any one area, but exists in locations across Summit County. These hubs should be supported and cultivated in ways that are authentic, independent, and unique to the interests and needs of each community. A network of physical and programmatic pathways should be built to ensure unity and success. As new development happens and as communities grow, Arts and Culture must be a critical part of decision-making and design. It cannot continue to be an afterthought. Arts and Culture can help Summit County develop in ways that hold onto the authenticity and history of our community and continue to improve our quality of life.

Faces

Support the needs of people and organizations through Arts and Culture in Summit County.

Arts and Culture in Summit County has, undoubtedly, reached such a high level of success to this point because of the passionate artists and nonprofits that have shouldered it forward. Further support of these admirable people and organizations is needed, and pathways to success for new artists and organizations should be cultivated. Another facet of this priority is to evolve Summit County into a net exporter of creative talent rather than an importer and programmer for talent from other places. Our young and rising artists must be fostered and supported in the same way our athletes are.

Strategic Recommendations

In this section, you will find the Strategic Recommendations organized by Collective Priority. The Strategic Recommendations are solutions that, when accomplished, will further improve Arts and Culture in our community. The Strategic Recommendations are intentionally written to allow for flexibility in implementation. In no instance is it expected that there be only one implementer of any given Strategic Recommendation. Timelines and financial implications have been purposefully omitted to allow for flexibility. What may be a short-term and low-dollar project for one stakeholder may be a long-term and high-dollar project for another, even though both fall under the same Strategic Recommendation.

Spaces

Develop, support, and protect facilities and venues for the creation, cultivation, and exhibition of Arts and Culture countywide.

Strategic Recommendations

• Create accessible, community-level, locals’-focused venues for the performance and exhibition of Arts and Culture

• Build or set aside affordable live/work housing for artists who live and work in Summit County, and enact local policy to ensure long-term availability and affordability of artist live/work space.

• Identify policies, funding mechanisms, and other approaches to protect current and future Arts and Culture spaces in perpetuity to avoid the loss of creative spaces over time.

- Conduct annual economic impact analysis of the creative economy in Summit County. Develop and implement an accurate and defendable system of quantifying Arts and Culture attendance to support ongoing economic-impact quantification.

• Support and expand existing centralized calendaring systems for Arts and Culture programming, events, and education.

Places

Support the development and connection of places for Arts and Culture across Summit County geographies.

Strategic Recommendations

• Focus on building Arts and Culture facilities and hubs across Summit County that serve the unique needs and interests of each community and its residents. Facilities and/or hubs should include work, performance, exhibition, and education spaces.

• Focus on connecting existing and new Arts and Culture hubs across the county and building a network for promotion, support, and creative activation.

• Further develop local public art.

- Integrate public art into trails and open space.

- Create interactive and temporary public art experiences.

- Develop an accessible map or web-based tool to better highlight the collection.